Children and young people in England with special educational needs, including severe autism, are to be offered NHS eyesight, dental and ear checks in their schools from next year. Students with learning disabilities can struggle to say when they experience problems, meaning important diagnoses may be missed. Bringing checks to them, in familiar surroundings and carried out by staff they already know and trust, can make a big difference, pilot studies show.
The scheme will soon be offered at all residential special schools and colleges in England to reach 18,000 pupils. Linden Lodge School in South London was part of the pilot study doing hearing checks and its staff say their students have hugely benefited. I visited the school and met Lily, who is 15.
She is partially sighted and has recently been worried about her hearing too, because deafness runs in her family. "Lots of the people in my family are profoundly deaf or completely deaf, including my dad. So I was a bit scared that I would inherit that as well.
I really wanted my ears checked to make sure that I'm OK," she said. Her teacher did the screening, which Lily says was a far better experience than going to a clinic. "I don't really like the doctors that much because it's a bit scary, but school's a bit more comfortable because I know everyone here.
It's a lot nicer and more relaxed," Lily said. She said the tests "felt a little funny in the ear..
.a little bit weird, but it was only in there for a couple of seconds, .